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As a result, the cloud base can vary from a very light to very dark grey depending on the cloud's thickness and how much light is being reflected or transmitted back to the observer. Thin clouds may look white or appear to have acquired the color of their environment or background. High tropospheric and non-tropospheric clouds appear mostly ...
Thin clouds may look white or appear to have acquired the color of their environment or background. Red, orange, and pink clouds occur almost entirely at sunrise/sunset and are the result of the scattering of sunlight by the atmosphere. When the Sun is just below the horizon, low-level clouds are gray, middle clouds appear rose-colored, and ...
Ice crystals in the clouds cause them to usually appear white, but the rising or setting sun can color them various shades of yellow or red. [2] [5] At dusk, they can appear gray. [5] Cirrus comes in five visually-distinct species: castellanus, fibratus, floccus, spissatus, and uncinus: [2]
the cloud IR emissivity, with values between 0 and 1, with a global average around 0.7; the effective cloud amount, the cloud amount weighted by the cloud IR emissivity, with a global average of 0.5; the cloud (visible) optical depth varies within a range of 4 and 10. the cloud water path for the liquid and solid (ice) phases of the cloud particles
Iridescent mid altitude clouds Iridescent polar stratospheric cloud at sunset over Aberdeen, Scotland Cloud iridescence, seen above the clouds covered with grey clouds, Pondicherry, India. Cloud iridescence or irisation is a colorful optical phenomenon that occurs in a cloud and appears in the general proximity of the Sun or Moon.
Stratus clouds are low-level clouds characterized by horizontal layering with a uniform base, as opposed to convective or cumuliform clouds formed by rising thermals. The term stratus describes flat, hazy , featureless clouds at low altitudes varying in color from dark gray to nearly white. [ 2 ]
The effect is created by the reflection of light from tiny ice crystals that are suspended in the atmosphere or that comprise high-altitude clouds (e.g. cirrostratus or cirrus clouds). [1] If the light comes from the Sun (usually when it is near or even below the horizon), the phenomenon is called a sun pillar or solar pillar.
Thick clouds reflect a large amount of incoming solar radiation, translating to a high albedo. Thin clouds tend to transmit more solar radiation and, therefore, have a low albedo. Changes in cloud albedo caused by variations in cloud properties have a significant effect on global climate, having the ability to spiral into feedback loops. [3]